Rating Rationale
June 14, 2023 | Mumbai
Paras Defence and Space Technologies Limited
Ratings upgraded to 'CRISIL A-/ Stable / CRISIL A2+'
 
Rating Action
Total Bank Loan Facilities RatedRs.103 Crore
Long Term RatingCRISIL A-/Stable (Upgraded from 'CRISIL BBB+/Positive')
Short Term RatingCRISIL A2+ (Upgraded from 'CRISIL A2')
Note: None of the Directors on CRISIL Ratings Limited’s Board are members of rating committee and thus do not participate in discussion or assignment of any ratings. The Board of Directors also does not discuss any ratings at its meetings.
1 crore = 10 million
Refer to Annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities

Detailed Rationale

CRISIL Ratings has upgraded its ratings on the bank facilities of Paras Defence and Space Technologies Ltd (Paras) to 'CRISIL A-/Stable/CRISIL A2+' from ‘CRISIL BBB+/Positive/CRISIL A2’.

 

The upgrade reflects steady improvement in Paras overall credit profile, backed by steady growth in scale along with established market position, healthy profitability and controlled debt levels. Revenues have grown more than ~22% in fiscal 2023 over previous fiscal and is expected to sustain this growth over the medium term, driven by timely execution of healthy orders in hand and expected addition of new work orders. Operating margin has remained stable in range of 27-31% in last 4 years ending fiscal 2023 and expected to remain at similar levels supported by improving operational efficiencies, niche product offerings and ability to pass raw material cost fluctuations.

 

The rating action also incorporates the strong financial risk profile marked by healthy networth and  controlled debt levels despite partially debt funded capital expenditure. This has led to comfortable gearing and total outside liabilities to adjusted networth (TOLANW), estimated to remain below 0.04 time and 0.29 time, respectively as on March 31, 2023 (0.09 time and 0.24 time as on March 31, 2022).

 

The ratings reflect extensive experience of Paras’ promoters and their technical expertise, its diversified product portfolio, reputed clientele and strong financial risk profile. These strengths are partially mitigated by increasing working capital requirements and partial susceptibility of revenue and operating profitability to tender based business.

Key Rating Drivers & Detailed Description

Strengths:

  • Established market position supported by extensive experience of promoters and technical expertise: Paras’ benefits from the promoters’ experience of more than 4 decades and their strong understanding of market dynamics, which should continue to support business risk profile. Over the decades, Paras has developed strong engineering and design capabilities which has helped it in meeting the changing demands from its customers. Further, Paras has maintained a strong focus on R&D which has helped them develop a wide range of products and solutions in the Defence and Space sector. Paras has a healthy order book including single nominated projects of approx. Rs 565 crore as on May 2023 spanning across its business verticals, aided by its established track record of timely and satisfactory completion of tenders.

 

  • Diversified product portfolio and healthy customer profile: Paras has a wide range of products which find application in diverse sectors like Heavy engineering (32% of revenues), Defence & Space optics (33% of revenues) and Defence electronics (35% of revenues). Paras has a diversified customer base which ranges from Government arms and government organizations involved in Defence and Space research, to various Defence public sector undertakings such as Bharat Dynamics Limited, Bharat Electronics Limited and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, as well as various private entities such as Alpha -Elsec Defence & Aerospace Systems Pvt. Ltd, L&T, etc. The company also exports to companies based in Israel, Singapore and USA., exports account for ~15% of total sales. The diversified product portfolio and established relationship with key customers should support the company maintain its scale over the medium term.

 

  • Strong financial risk profile: Paras adjusted net worth is strong at Rs 364.3 crores as on March 31, 2023 (Rs 335.7 crores as on March 31, 2022) supported by steady accretion to reserves. Overall, capital structure is marked by comfortable gearing and total outside liabilities to adjusted networth of 0.04 time and 0.29 time as on March 31, 2023 (from 0.09 time and 0.24 time, respectively, a year before). Debt protection metrics are also strong, with interest coverage and net cash accruals to adjusted debt of above 9.65 times and 3.23 times in fiscal 2023 (as against 6.83 times and 1.21 times, respectively, in fiscal 2022). With healthy profitability the debt protection metrics are expected to remain comfortable over the medium term. The capital structure is expected to remain comfortable over the medium term, with strong accretion to reserve and absence of large debt-funded capital expenditure (capex).

 

Weaknesses:

  • Working capital intensive operations: Operations are working capital intensive as reflected by gross current assets of  535 days as on March 31, 2023 which is majorly driven by debtors of 235 to 245 days and inventory of 200 to 210 days. Since, Paras customers include government bodies and manufactures various kind of products with long processing times, debtors and inventory levels are expected to remain high. With increasing scale, working capital requirements will remain high which will be partly met by internal accruals, albeit management of the same remains a key rating sensitivity factor.
     
  • Susceptibility of scale of operations and operating profitability to tender based business: Despite Paras having well-diversified product profile with different products providing different profitability, its business performance is entirely dependent on the nature of tender received from its customers, owing which both scale and profitability are expected to remain volatile.

Liquidity: Strong

Paras has strong liquidity driven by expected cash accruals of more than Rs.60 to 69 crore per annum in fiscal 2024 and 2025, against long term repayment obligations around Rs. 0.19 crores annually. The Paras group’s fund-based limits was 47% utilized on an average over the 12 months ended March 2023. The company has cash and bank balance of Rs. 17.11 crores as on March 31, 2023 apart from unutilized IPO proceeds of around Rs 18.99 Crores.  With a gearing of 0.04 time as on March 31, 2023, the company have sufficient gearing headroom, to raise additional debt to meet its working capital requirement. Its internal accrual and bank lines are expected to meet its incremental working capital requirements.

Outlook: Stable

CRISIL Rating believes that the company will continue to benefit from its established market position in the aerospace and defence equipment segment and strong financial risk profile.

Rating Sensitivity factors

Upward factors:

  • Significant improvement in scale while sustaining healthy operating margin of above 25% leading to higher cash accruals
  • Improvement in working capital cycle and sustenance of healthy financial risk profile with comfortable capital structure 

 

Downward factors:

  • Decline in scale of operations or operating profitability leading to cash accruals less than Rs 35 Crores.
  • Stretch in working capital cycle weakening of financial risk profile and liquidity prospects

About the Company

Paras, setup in 1979 by Mr. Sharad Shah, primarily offers high precision products and turnkey solutions to the defense and space sector, operating in three main verticals – Defence and Space Optics, Defence Electronics and Heavy Engineering. It is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange & National Stock Exchange. The day-to-day operations are currently managed by Mr. Munjal Shah (son of Mr. Sharad Shah) and it has two manufacturing facilities located in Thane and Navi Mumbai.

Key Financial Indicators

As on/for the period ended March 31

Unit

2023

2022

2021

Operating income

Rs crore

228.4

183.6

143.8

Reported profit after tax (PAT)

Rs crore

35.95

27.08

15.75

PAT margin

%

15.7

14.8

11.0

Adjusted debt/adjusted networth

Times

0.04

0.09

0.49

Interest coverage

Times

9.65

7.01

3.57

Any other information: Not applicable

Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument:
CRISIL Ratings` complexity levels are assigned to various types of financial instruments and are included (where applicable) in the 'Annexure - Details of Instrument' in this Rating Rationale.

CRISIL Ratings will disclose complexity level for all securities - including those that are yet to be placed - based on available information. The complexity level for instruments may be updated, where required, in the rating rationale published subsequent to the issuance of the instrument when details on such features are available.

For more details on the CRISIL Ratings` complexity levels please visit www.crisilratings.com. Users may also call the Customer Service Helpdesk with queries on specific instruments.

Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)

ISIN Name of the instrument Date of
Allotment
Coupon
Rate (%)
Maturity
Date
Issue size
(Rs. Crore)
Complexity
Level
Rating assigned
with outlook
NA Cash credit NA NA NA 39 NA CRISIL A-/Stable
NA Bank Guarantee NA NA NA 23 NA CRISIL A2+
NA Letter of Credit NA NA NA 5 NA CRISIL A2+
NA Long Term loan NA NA Mar-29 10 NA CRISIL A-/Stable
NA Pre Shipment Credit NA NA NA 7 NA CRISIL A2+
NA Proposed Term Loan NA NA NA 19 NA CRISIL A-/Stable
Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years
  Current 2023 (History) 2022  2021  2020  Start of 2020
Instrument Type Outstanding Amount Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Date Rating Rating
Fund Based Facilities ST/LT 75.0 CRISIL A2+ / CRISIL A-/Stable   -- 30-05-22 CRISIL BBB+/Positive / CRISIL A2 01-03-21 CRISIL BBB+/Negative / CRISIL A2 22-01-20 CRISIL BBB+/Stable / CRISIL A2 CRISIL BBB+/Stable / CRISIL A2
Non-Fund Based Facilities ST 28.0 CRISIL A2+   -- 30-05-22 CRISIL A2 01-03-21 CRISIL A2 22-01-20 CRISIL A2 CRISIL A2
All amounts are in Rs.Cr.
Annexure - Details of Bank Lenders & Facilities
Facility Amount (Rs.Crore) Name of Lender Rating
Bank Guarantee 8 Nkgsb Co-Operative Bank Limited CRISIL A2+
Bank Guarantee 15 Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited CRISIL A2+
Cash Credit 24 Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited CRISIL A-/Stable
Cash Credit 15 Nkgsb Co-Operative Bank Limited CRISIL A-/Stable
Letter of Credit 5 Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited CRISIL A2+
Long Term Loan 10 Nkgsb Co-Operative Bank Limited CRISIL A-/Stable
Pre Shipment Credit 7 Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited CRISIL A2+
Proposed Term Loan 19 Not Applicable CRISIL A-/Stable
Criteria Details
Links to related criteria
CRISILs Approach to Financial Ratios
Rating criteria for manufaturing and service sector companies
CRISILs Bank Loan Ratings - process, scale and default recognition
CRISILs Approach to Recognising Default
Understanding CRISILs Ratings and Rating Scales

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